Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, recently said it wasn’t sustainable to continue releasing games on a case-by-case basis on devices such as the Nintendo Switch. So what about Xbox Game Pass then – could this subscription service on the hybrid system be a possible solution – perhaps even via Microsoft’s streaming service, xCloud?
In a recent interview with GameReactor, Phil said while he’s “not sure” about this idea, Xbox could potentially be open to discussions with Nintendo and Sony about launching this service on their platforms. Obviously, it also depends on if these other parties are willing to cooperate. Here’s his full response:
GameReactor: Game Pass has become a fundamental part of Microsoft’s identity going forward, and it’s become a huge success on Android devices (through xCloud) and Windows 10 PC. Do you want to see it expand to Nintendo and PlayStation platforms? Is it “them” that is keeping the service from launching there, or are there any other challenges in regards to that?
Phil Spencer: I think for us it’s all about priority, and reaching more players. So we went to PC first after Xbox, because there’s just so many players there, globally, that don’t own an Xbox, that we could go reach. We went to mobile next because there’s a billion Android phones on the planet. It’s significantly larger than any console player base. We still have iOS to go after, we will come to iOS at some point. We’re still working on some of our technology on PC for larger screens in terms of streaming, and getting to iOS, and I think once we get through that, we look at what the other options are. There’s smart TV’s out there, there’s Chromebooks out there, there’s FireTV out there, there’s a lot of discussions we would have, we would prioritize it based on where we would find the most new players, that we could naturally bring content to. I love the Switch, I love PlayStation, honestly, I think they’ve done an amazing job as being a part of this industry. I’m not sure that those are the next big set of users for us, but we could be open to those discussions.
Earlier this year in July, Phil shut down the idea of Game Pass coming to other platforms, suggesting these other companies “aren’t really that interested in having a full Xbox experience”. And earlier this month, he reiterated past comments, stating how Xbox games need the support of the full Xbox ecosystem.
While it seems like team Xbox is still open to the idea, it’s probably more a question if Nintendo and Sony would be willing to host a service like this. What do you think? Could xCloud be a possible solution. Share your own thoughts down below.
